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Cultivating Self and Displaying Status: Instances of Innovation and Exchange in the Cabinets of Amalia van Solms-Braunfels, Princess of Orange (1602-1675)

Smith, Lauryn N.
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1648828315663496

Abstract Details

2022, Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, Art History.
In the early modern period, elite collectors began amassing magnificent collections of both locally produced and imported objects. Few were as innovative as Amalia van Solms-Braunfels (1602-1675), Princess of Orange. Under Amalia and her husband, Stadtholder Frederik Hendrik (1584-1647), Prince of Orange, the United Provinces flourished as a cultural and global power. The strength and wealth of the country, and by association the House of Orange-Nassau, is embedded in Amalia’s cabinets or closets, private spaces where she carefully curated assemblages of locally produced and imported decorative and fine artworks. Under the weight of a historiographic tradition that privileges male rulers, much of the scholarship produced on the princely couple’s cultural activities marks Frederik Hendrik or Constantijn Huygens as the deciding factor without discussion or justification. While scholarly interest in Amalia’s role as an independent patron and collector has grown over the last two decades, the focus to date on individual, extant objects, while informative, does not provide a comprehensive understanding of Amalia’s interests and motivations as a patron and collector-- how she acquired and employed objects, both individually and in decorative ensembles, to construct her various identities. My dissertation focuses on Amalia’s cabinets found in the Stadtholder’s Quarters (Stadhouderlijk Kwartier) and the Oude Hof (‘Old Court’) at Noordeinde, and the objects displayed within. Uniting textual and visual evidence in the form of inventories, correspondence, and objects with novel digital tools, it first applies social network analysis to visualize Amalia’s social, global network that provided her with access to other impressive collections and artists, as well as assisted her with acquiring objects originating from outside of Europe. It interrogates how, once acquired, objects were employed by Amalia in ensembles within the most intimate spaces of her residences to construct her various identities- as wife, mother, consort, princess, and later widow- and further the status and prestige of the budding House of Orange-Nassau. By focusing on the objects as an ensemble along with the sites they were displayed in, my dissertation reconstructs Amalia’s growth as a collector and art patron through the curation of her cabinets, overcoming the challenges associated with traditional methodologies.
Catherine Scallen (Advisor)
Andrea Wolk Rager (Committee Member)
318 p.
Art History
gender; collecting; patronage; 17th century; Netherlands; export Asian art; network analysis; digital art history; archival; Netherlandish painting; spatial analysis; House of Orange-Nassau; colonialism; identity construction; textiles; material culture; motherhood; reception; display

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Smith, L. N. (2022). Cultivating Self and Displaying Status: Instances of Innovation and Exchange in the Cabinets of Amalia van Solms-Braunfels, Princess of Orange (1602-1675) [Doctoral dissertation, Case Western Reserve University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1648828315663496

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Smith, Lauryn. Cultivating Self and Displaying Status: Instances of Innovation and Exchange in the Cabinets of Amalia van Solms-Braunfels, Princess of Orange (1602-1675). 2022. Case Western Reserve University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1648828315663496.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Smith, Lauryn. "Cultivating Self and Displaying Status: Instances of Innovation and Exchange in the Cabinets of Amalia van Solms-Braunfels, Princess of Orange (1602-1675)." Doctoral dissertation, Case Western Reserve University, 2022. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1648828315663496

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

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This open access ETD is published by Case Western Reserve University School of Graduate Studies and OhioLINK.